April

John Steinbeck’s epic novel “The Grapes of Wrath” will be brought to life on an intimate new stage by students in the Department of Performing Arts inDrexel University’s Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design. The production, which marks the inauguration of the new Black Box Theater in the URBN Center Annex (3401 Filbert St.), opens on Friday, May 10 and will run through Saturday, May 25.

The 11th Street Family Health Services of Drexel University (11th Street) is partnering with the City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program and Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual Disability Services (DBHIDS) in an event called Painting a Healthy City, part of a series that aims to promote health and well-being across Philadelphia by bringing together the powerful forces of public art, community engagement and health resources.

Drexel University’s Expressive & Creative Interaction Technologies (ExCITe) Center is taking a step forward in efforts at the intersection of the arts, technology and science thanks to a grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

Last spring, Drexel’s first Inside-Out course offered students the chance to get out of the classroom and learn in a prison. Now, more than a year later, five Inside-Out courses will invite students to learn not only at a prison but also at a farm, a senior citizen home and an enterprise center.

Drexel University acquired the property located at 3161-67 Market Street, a triangular-shaped parcel on the north side of Market Street between JFK Boulevard and 32nd Street that currently houses a Firestone auto repair shop. Located at the heart of Drexel’s campus, the 26,675 square-foot parcel is key to the University’s strategic and master plans, which call for the development of a superblock along Market Street that will serve as a gateway to University City from 30th Street Station.

Acclaimed civil rights lawyer, advocate and award-winning author Michelle Alexander will join Drexel University on Monday, May 6 from 6 – 9 p.m. for a discussion about racial bias in the criminal justice system. The event will take place in the Main Auditorium in Drexel’s Main Building (32nd and Chestnut Streets). A book signing and reception will follow the lecture.

Fashion visionary Ken Downing, the senior vice president and fashion director of American luxury department store Neiman Marcus, will be presented with the second annual Westphal Award from Drexel University’s Westphal College of Media Arts & Design. The award ceremony will take place Wednesday, May 1 at 6 p.m. at the Leonard Pearlstein Gallery in the URBN Center Annex (3401 Filbert St.). This event is free and open to the public.

Drexel’s varsity wrestling team will have a new conference home when the 2013-14 season opens, as the Dragons will join former Colonial Athletic Association conference-mate Hofstra as two of the newest members of the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association. The EIWA announced on Thursday that it will add Drexel, Hofstra, Binghamton University and Boston University to bring the league’s membership to 18 schools.

Could fields of perennial switchgrass and willow be the key to America’s energy independence? The U.S. Department of Agriculture wants to know and Drexel University’s Dr. Sabrina Spatari, an assistant professor of civil, architectural and environmental engineering, is trying to provide some answers in a complicated series of hypotheticals that could determine the nation’s path toward finding a substitute for oil.

Using the arts to foster learning, motivation and success for urban students will be the topic of conversation among a panel of artists and educators at “Learning through the Arts” on Tuesday, April 30 from 5:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m., the fourth event in the Critical Conversations in Urban Education lecture series hosted by Drexel University’s School of Education.

Drexel has been named the 2012-13 Individual Conference Champion of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s College & University Green Power Challenge for using more green power than any other school in the Colonial Athletic Association.

Dr. James Connell, who joined Drexel last year as the clinical director of the A.J Drexel Autism Institute, shared with DrexelNow some of the latest developments at the institute since its launch last year.

Thanks to a grant from the William B. Dietrich Foundation, Drexel University was able to renew and restore major aspects of its Anthony J. Drexel Picture Gallery, which included the installation of a new skylight and aesthetic improvements that update the space to today’s museum standards.

As part of city’s vibrant scientific and technological community, Drexel University will play a big role in the 2013 Philadelphia Science Festival and Philly Tech Week on April 18-28. From a 29-story video game, to cutting-edge robotics, to an interactive Jazz concert, Drexel’s students, faculty and professional staff will be part of the programming for both week-long celebrations of the inquisitive and innovative spirits that are part of the fabric of the city.

Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter recently announced that, in collaboration with various local organizations including Drexel's Vision 2020 project, Philadelphia will host the nation’s celebration of the 100th anniversary of women’s voting rights in the year 2020.

One must-see highlight of this year's Philadelphia Science Festival is Drexel’s “Science of Jazz,” a next-generation jazz concert the evening of April 23 in the Mandell Theater. DrexelNow spoke with Dr. Youngmoo Kim, director of the ExCITe Center, to find out learn more about this uniquely Drexel event and why it’s one to add to your to-do list for the festival.

For the first time in Drexel’s history, works of art and archival artifacts from across the University are being exhibited together during A Legacy of Art, Science & Industry: Highlights from the Collections of Drexel University. The Drexel community is invited to an opening reception this Friday, April 19, beginning at 5 p.m.

Dr. Daniel V. Schidlow, the Walter H. and Leonore Annenberg Dean and senior vice president of medical affairs at Drexel’s College of Medicine, is a self-described multi-tasker when it comes to his reading selections. One recent selection, however, has made it to the top of his favorite books of all time— Velázquez and The Surrender of Breda: The Making of a Masterpiece by Anthony Bailey.

Two more players in the world of Big Data have joined Drexel University’s National Academy of Science Center for Visual and Decision Informatics. IMS Health, a leading global provider of information, technology and services dedicated to making healthcare perform better; and Microsoft Research, one of the largest software research organizations in the world, will both be part of the growing CVDI partnership.

As the share of employed teens across the nation has plummeted over the last decade, a new study from Drexel University’s Center for Labor Markets and Policy and the Commonwealth Corporation reveals some practical solutions to the challenge of declining teen employment.

Journalist andentrepreneur Arianna Huffington will join Drexel University on Tuesday, April 30, as the College of Arts and Sciences’ third lecturer in their annual Distinguished Lecture Series. Joining neuroscientist David Eagleman and acclaimed author Sir Salman Rushdie on the growing list of accomplished distinguished lecturers, Huffington will explore "The Brave New World of the 'New Media': How Social Media Has Revolutionized the Communications Landscape."

More than 117 employers are lining up to recruit from more than 1,300 students at Drexel University’s Spring Career Fair. This is one of the largest group of employers at the spring fair in the last five years, according to Peter Franks, senior associate vice provost for career education, who heads Drexel’s Steinbright Career Development Center. Employers expect to hire 13 percent more graduates this year than they did last year, according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers latest Job Outlook 2013 survey.

History was made when all four of Drexel University’s Goldwater Scholarship applicants were named recipients of the prestigious Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship on April 1. Alex Sevit, Emily Buck, Rishon Benjamin and Andrew Zigerelli were among the total 271 undergraduate students in math and science fields who won the scholarship from the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Program.

Drexel’s College of Medicine has partnered with Kaiser Permanente in California to help ensure a strong physician workforce for the future and to further develop emerging health care leaders for the Sacramento region.

Drexel University's Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design celebrates its new home, The URBN Center, with a grand opening on April 12. Called “one of Philadelphia's most thrilling new designs” by The Philadelphia Inquirer’s architecture critic Inga Saffron, the iconic 3501 Market Street building created by Robert Venturi was transformed into a state-of-the-art center for design and the arts by the noted design firm of Meyer, Scherer & Rockcastle, LTD.

Turtle biologists with digital SLR cameras may be on the verge of something extraordinary: Empowering a nation to save endangered monkeys and the idyllic island ecosystem they call home. The very unusual nature documentary the biologists produced will have its U.S. premiere at Drexel University on April 15.

Drexel women’s basketball claimed a share of school and city history on Saturday by defeating Utah 46-43 to seize the Women’s National Invitation Championship, which is the first postseason title for Drexel and the first for any NCAA Division I women’s basketball team in Philadelphia. The Dragons finished the year with a 28-10 record, which is the program’s record for wins in a season.

Drexel University President John A. Fry and Drexel faculty and administrators will join Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett’s delegation to Brazil and Chile. The trip is scheduled for April 6-16 and will include stops in Brazilian cities of Sao Paulo, Florianopolis and Rio de Janeiro, along with Santiago, Chile.

Drexel University’s iSchool, College of Information Science and Technology will host the premier Philly Health Codefest, a two-day coding competition with the goal of transforming data into health care solutions. More than 150 software developers and designers will join health care professionals, educators, students and entrepreneurs at the event which will take place in the Bossone Research Enterprise Center’s Mitchell Auditorium on April 5-7.

With a 67-57 victory over the Florida Gators on Wednesday, Drexel’s women’s basketball team advanced to the championship game of the Women’s National Invitation Tournament. The Dragons will face Utah on Saturday at 3 p.m. at the Daskalakis Athletic Center to vie for the first postseason tournament title in the school’s history.

For the first time in Drexel University’s history, the most treasured works of art and archival artifacts from around the University will be exhibited together during A Legacy of Art, Science & Industry: Highlights from the Collections of Drexel University. Approximately 90 objects spanning the 15th through 20th centuries, including paintings, sculptures, prints and drawings, rare books, historical documents, political posters, historical costumes and even a surgical amputation kit, will be on display.

A screening of the critically acclaimed documentary film“Versailles ’73: American Runway Revolution,” which explores a moment that changed the course of fashion history, will take place at Drexel University on Thursday, April 18 at 6 p.m.

The video game that started them all will come to life on Philadelphia’s largest array of LEDs in a visual spectacle that is sure to inspire wonder while plucking at the heartstrings of nostalgic video gamers throughout the city. On the evening of April 19, Cira Centre’s 85,360-square-foot, north-facing wall will be transformed into the classic arcade game Pong to open festivities of the third annual Philly Tech Week presented by AT&T from April 20-27.

Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano traveled to Drexel University to announce seven colleges and universities competitively selected to participate in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Campus Resilience Pilot Program. DHS will work with Drexel and six selected colleges and universities to draw on existing resources, collaborate with federal, state and local stakeholders and identify new innovative approaches to promote campus resilience.

Drexel used one of its best defensive efforts of the season to topple the Auburn Tigers 56-43 and earn a trip to the Final Four of the Women’s National Invitation Tournament and continue its historic season. The Dragons, led by senior Hollie Mershon’s 19-point, 13-rebound effort, will face the Florida Gators in the tournament semifinal on Wednesday, April 3 at 7 p.m.